Dear SaaStr: A Co-Founder is Asking for More Equity Post Fundraising. What Should I Do? Listen. It usually means something is wrong. Or at least, off: If you got the equity splits right at first, usually, big issues don’t come up later. This may be a sign you need to...
Dear SaaStr: What Would Be The Single Most Important Advice You Would Give Other Entrepreneurs? Quit today if you don’t want it bad enough. But … never quit if you truly do. … Now, by “quit” I don’t literally mean leave the keys on your...
Dear SaaStr: What Should Happen When a Co-founder Wants to Quit? This is one of the toughest situations to be in. First, figure out if it’s just anxiety. Starting something is hard. Getting to the first $1m in ARR is borderline impossible. If it’s “just” anxiety, and...
Dear SaaStr: What’s Your Best Advice for Struggling Entrepreneurs? Having struggled a lot myself in the early days several times … just a few thoughts to summarize my learnings: 1. Get help & upgrade the team. This is the #1 thing you can do to move...
Dear SaaStr: How Do You Keep Yourself From Getting Fired as a Founder CEO? First, note it isn’t easy to get fired as a founder CEO. Especially if you haven’t raised all that much money. I’ll leave the legal and contractual answers to others. But...
We’re gearing up for our biggest, best-est SaaStr Europa 2024 (June 4-5 in London!) and SaaStr Annual 2024 (Sep 10-12 in SF Bay again!) As part of that, we’re taking a look back at some of the best sessions ever. When both of HubSpot’s co-founders...
There's a moment in time in every SaaS company where money doesn't really matter anymore. You have enough to hit your goals. And there's a much earlier moment in time where every single dollar matters. Between the two is the art of investing your balance...
Dear SaaStr: Is There Any “Con” In Giving Our Sales Tool For Free to Early-Stage Startups? Free of course can real work, done right.: Slack Zoom Canva All built massive businesses on the back of very Free editions, even if they later turned more...
Dear SaaStr: What is The Average Ratio of Support Staff to Customer Count in SaaS? Typically support consumes about perhaps 5%-7% of your revenue at scale (excluding customer success) in most SaaS models. It could be more or less, but that’s a rough way to think about...
Dear SaaStr: What Was Your Biggest Early Days Mistake In Your Startups? Boy it’s tough to pick just one mistake. But I’d have to say in both my startups, the biggest mistake was not taking the time in the beginning to get the founding team right. This is tough. You...
So I have a ton of empathy overall, but burnout? Sort of. I do have empathy for founders, execs and ICs that truly left nothing on the field for 3, 4, 5 years. That truly burns you out. But even there, my empathy has limits. Because while it’s real, you gotta...
Dear SaaStr: Does Anyone Regret Being an Entrepreneur? No, but there are … laments. The thing is, successful entrepreneurs generally speaking, can only do that — be successful entrepreneurs. Why? Why can’t they go work for someone else, collect a huge paycheck,...
As we gear up for 2024 SaaStr Europa in June in London and 2024 SaaStr Annual in September in SF Bay Area, we’re taking a look back at some of the top sessions from years past. Tomasz Tunguz, now Managing Director of Theory Ventures (and then MD with Redpoint...
Dear SaaStr: Should I Go Into SaaS Sales? If you aren’t sure you want to go into sales — don’t do it. Maybe in 2021, when many SaaS leaders were growing at simply unprecedented rates, could succeed in sales if you weren’t sure you wanted to sell. Not today. A...
Dear SaaStr: Why Would I Start a Startup if I Only Have a 5% Chance of Succeeding? Don’t do it. If you only see a 5% chance of succeeding, don’t do it. With both my start-ups (maybe three, if you count SaaStr and SaaStr Fund) … I was 100% sure we’d succeed. And I was...